


As the Crow Flies

by trillingstar



Category: Y tu mamá también (2001)
Genre: Future Fic, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Memories, Post-Canon Fix-It, Slice of Life, Yuletide 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:14:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21833503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trillingstar/pseuds/trillingstar
Summary: They will never meet again.Just kidding.  Now that would have been a terrible ending.No, the truth is that they see each other one more time.
Relationships: Tenoch Iturbide/Julio Zapata
Comments: 26
Kudos: 79
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	As the Crow Flies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tangerine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangerine/gifts).



> Thank you to the kind & generous [Roguemarch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roguemarch/) for being my source of all things Mexico. Any further misinterpretations are my mistakes. Thank you to my beta, [Ozsaur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ozsaur/), and her never-wavering cheerleading & support! 
> 
> Happy Yuletide, Tangerine!  
> 

_They will never meet again.  
  
Just kidding. Now that would have been a terrible ending.  
  
No, the truth is that they see each other one more time._  
  
  
  
  
2019  


When Julio catches sight of the lecture hall's marquee, he slows down to a fast walk. He's already ten or fifteen minutes late, and he's also a complete jackass for thinking he'd remember how everything's laid out on campus. He hasn't been here for at least ten years, not since he'd written the think piece that had finally gotten him noticed. Onto the map, at least, and no longer hovering close by. It hadn't been anything to do with La Ibero itself: he'd met one of his sources close to campus for carnitas and gossip, some of which had turned out to be true.

This time he's here to attend a lecture by a noted astrophysicist who has some really odd ideas about water conservation. He's dying to write them up and do a critique, but he's also here to record and relay for Boinas, who's incarcerated for the next few months and still manages a more active social life than Julio.

Panting, Julio hustles to join the stragglers going into the auditorium, ignoring the disdainful look he gets as the usher dutifully exchanges Julio's ticket for a program. Naturally he's last getting to his row, where everyone is already seated and unhappy to be disturbed.

"Sorry, sorry," Julio mutters as he clambers over people. His seat is closest to the wall, and right as he squeezes past the last person's knees, the lights dim overhead even as they brighten on stage.

"Thank you for joining us tonight," the presenter begins, "and a quick reminder that our scheduled speaker has had a last-minute emergency and cannot be here tonight." 

Chatter ripples across the audience, and the presenter hurries on. "However, we've found an excellent replacement, and perhaps this is the perfect way to introduce a new face here on campus, a teacher we were lucky to snag, our newest visiting professor of Economics, Dr. Tenoch Iturbide!"

Julio sits frozen, jacket still on, recorder forgotten in his hand.

Cautious applause breaks out around Julio and then strengthens as a tall, fit man with dark hair down to his shoulders strides out onto the stage. He's wearing expensive-looking dress shoes and one of those blazers with corduroy patches on the elbows, the type that he and Julio used to make fun of on all of their own teachers. Julio splutters as he fumbles with the program, grabbing up his phone to use as a flashlight. There's no information there, though, it's only the cancelled speaker's program.

Julio's gaze darts back up to the stage just in time to catch Tenoch adjusting the mic, his fingers moving deftly on the stand. Tenoch shuffles through a folder, readies a clicker, and tucks his hair behind one ear before straightening up. It's definitely his Tenoch. There's a name Julio hasn't thought about for years, and he knows he's trapped. He'll draw attention trying to leave now, the granny at the end will likely punch him in the stones if he steps on her foot again, and it's not that he doesn't want to see Tenoch -- it's surprising, that's all. Really surprising.

"Hello and thank you for staying, it's appreciated. Though I'm not who you were expecting, I'll try my best to make it an interesting and enjoyable evening anyway. Some people like my writing," Tenoch ends dryly, before pointing to a book propped up on the podium. Lowering his glasses, Julio squints and then whips out his phone. Tenoch's first book has just been released. It's getting great reviews. There's a book signing event at a local bookstore in a few days, would Julio like to add the event to his calendar?

On stage, Tenoch continues, "Tonight I'm here to educate you about some of the relationships that exist between current ecological protections and various world economies, the give and take made possible by --"

A wave of memories subsumes Julio's thoughts. He remembers how dramatic the fight that played out between them felt, but looking back now, it was kid stuff. The whole world welcoming them, open to their self-declared brilliance. Their own stupid litany of rigid rules. Girls and more girls. Who slept with who and who didn't sleep with who and who wanted to sleep with who, but never could.

Shrugging out of his coat, Julio settles back, staring at Tenoch and watching him gesture, the flutter of his hands the same, the peek of dimples the same. His tone is passionate, but lighthearted, too. That he's speaking to the audience so easily is unexpected. Tenoch always wanted to be listened to, and paid attention to, but at the same time didn't care about creating any rapport.

When the slideshow ends, the spotlight finds Tenoch again, splashing gold and red across his shoulders and hair. Julio's best friend from childhood has sprouted and grown into a lanky, attractive adult who exudes a warm, competent presence on-stage. He's turned into someone who speaks intelligently about price elasticity and environmentalism, for fuck's sake. Julio has never actually expected their paths to cross again. Frankly, as far as he'd known, Tenoch buckled and went into economics like he'd promised his father, was dating someone not-Julio, and sometimes that was life.

Julio's more familiar with that last part, now that he's a little gray around the edges. He experiences another flash of remembered emotion -- not bitterness, just confusion. He'd expected things to go a different way at their last meeting, naïve enough to assume that Tenoch was finished being angry with him, and now they would get back to their pussy-conquering ways and fulfill their manifesto. Historically, being charolastros covered a number of sins.

*

The auditorium empties so slowly that Julio misses his bus. Younger, impatient Julio would have pushed past everyone, but he likes to think he's mellowed out, and is hopefully less stupid. Patience has earned some of his best interviews.

It's a warm, windy night, and he's fine with walking; he always ends up in conversation on the bus, and he wants to listen to the recorded lecture. It won't be a hardship to listen to the sound and cadence of Tenoch's both familiar and not-familiar voice in his ears as he treks home.

Setting off, he puts in his air pods and connects with the cloud, mind already working for a hook to use in his article. But there's dead air where an audio file should be, and he realizes that he never pressed record. Shit! Boinas was counting on him, too. He can phone the college after the weekend, they're bound to have recordings and maybe they'll let him make a copy.

A strong breeze swirls past, carrying along the sound of Tenoch's laughter. Julio looks up to see the back of Tenoch's head and his ugly brown coat just metres away. It's not so far that Tenoch wouldn't hear him if Julio yelled out his name, but he doesn't, holding still as Tenoch approaches a private car. Julio doesn't recognize the driver; of course it wouldn't be his same bodyguard from so long ago. The driver opens Tenoch's door, but right before getting inside, Tenoch's head turns and his piercing gaze sweeps back up the street.

Julio ducks down, kneeling, and pretends to tie his shoe. He turns his face further away when Tenoch's car passes by, even though there's no possible way that Tenoch could have known that Julio was in the audience tonight, or even in the general vicinity. Tenoch was not telepathic, thank god, and he hadn't fished through Julio's mind for stray queer thoughts.

By the time he's unlocking his front door, Julio lets in the possibility that he looked away because he had zero interest in watching Tenoch's disinterested gaze sliding over him, and Tenoch pretending not to have seen Julio at all.

*

In an unusually fast turnaround time, Iberoamericana agrees to send over Dr. Iturbide's recordings; there's no digital recording available to the press yet, but a package arrives a few days later, with both audio and video recordings on disc and a copy of Tenoch's new book. Julio goes right for the back cover, but there's no picture, only a few lines about how it's his first book, he lives in Mexico City, likes horchata de melón the best, and enjoys spending time in nature.

The blurb earns an obligatory eye roll. The Tenoch that Julio had known hated being outdoors unless it was hiding in the bushes to take a piss or smoke a joint. Then again, Julio knows about self-promotion. He's worked hard to get his freelancing client roster, and it's a fulfilling career, though it hasn't always covered all the bills.

Julio lights a cigarette and smokes it slowly. It's been, what, going on twenty years now. But they had been best friends back then, together more often than not, and for the short time between leaving Luisa on the beach and getting back to the city, Julio'd hoped for more. He's curious about what Tenoch's up to now, but only because he's just seen him, probably; if Julio'd randomly heard his name, he wouldn't've cared. He taps ashes into the Chiapan amber ashtray his mom gave him when he won his first major journalism award. 

He's not opening up a Facebook account just to stalk Tenoch Iturbide. He's not going to stalk Tenoch period. No, he's going to be an adult and DM him on Twitter.

*

Weeks pass and Tenoch doesn't reply, so Julio shrugs it off. Tenoch's still an asshole. Quelle surprise.

All of his reminiscing about being a dramatic, bored kid with a hard-on for his straight best friend brings up memories that Julio had glossed over, pushed out to make room for ones that didn't hurt. One day Julio's holding his dick, flipping through his mental spank bank, and suddenly there's Tenoch's face, an off-kilter overlay of the teenager Julio remembers and the adult he is now. Julio indulges, thinking about how engaged Tenoch looked, his confidence shining as he delivered his talk. The length of his hair, the curl of it around his ear. The sound of his voice, the lilts and rolls. Tenoch's matter of fact delivery of statistics, how his mouth moved, and how his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. Julio swallows heavily, his hand moving faster. Even the way Tenoch had been dressed does it for Julio, because he'd looked good. Sexy. No longer scrawny, but lean, a swimmer's build.

It's messed up to be so turned on by such mundane things. As a test, the millisecond he spends picturing Tenoch on his knees sucking cock is enough to get him right up to the edge. Julio scratches his fingernails down the inside of one thigh and switches hands on his dick, slowing things down.

Julio imagines attending the lecture as Tenoch's friend. Best friend. Boyfriend, why not? For a moment it feels stupid and crazy, but then Julio lets himself feel proud of Tenoch, and of his accomplishments. He imagines listening to Tenoch speak for the hundredth time about the relationship between conservation and economics, when he's already heard the first ninety-nine drafts at home. Afterwards, he pretends to play it cool, but he loves being swept up into a bear hug with Tenoch's arms holding him safe. He whispers to Tenoch how great he was, how great he looked, then pulls Tenoch into the coat check -- no, a storage closet -- for a quick -- just to press their... their bodies together and... and -- _whoa_.

Julio lies prone, almost afraid to move. His orgasm had been swift, punching through him in a way that left him writhing, back arched against the bed. That hasn't happened for a while. He's even gotten come on his chest, and some on the mess of papers and books that live permanently on Julio's bed. When Julio realizes that he's shot his wad onto the cover of Tenoch's book, he begins to laugh, quaking with it. Rolling over to grab some tissues from the nightstand, he wipes off his chest, then extricates the jizzed-on book.

A piece of paper falls out of the front.

Julio grabs for it. A folded half-sheet, with his name written on one side.

"I thought that was you! Call me. Tenoch."

There's a local phone number printed on the page.

Julio blinks down at the message a few times, and then he adds a new contact to his phone.

*

For fairness, Julio and Tenoch meet at a park that's located about halfway between their homes. Tenoch's voice does not convey mockery when he suggests this, so Julio accepts the proposal. There's a good selection of fruterías in that area, and plenty of places to sit.

Julio buys two horchatas from a vendor so he'll have something to do with his hands while he waits, then picks out a good bench to take advantage of the afternoon sunshine.

He hears Tenoch before he sees him, shouting Julio's name with abandon. When Julio spots him, Tenoch's loping straight toward him, waving and smiling. He looks happy to see Julio, which is pretty flattering, actually, so Julio smiles back and stands in greeting. Tenoch crashes into Julio, and then they're hugging, holding tight. Julio tilts his head back, looking up at Tenoch and they laugh in each other's faces and then hug some more. Tenoch still has an undeniable hyper puppy-energy to him. He's also filled out, his body sturdy under Julio's hands. His face is showing glee that Julio strongly suspects is reflected back from his own expression.

"Here's your horchata," Julio says, as they sit down. He waits until Tenoch takes it to add, "With melon."

"Gross -- you know I don't --" Tenoch puts the cup down right away. He smirks at Julio. "Oh, I see."

"What's that?"

"Just like old times, Julio," Tenoch says with a smile. He's wearing a green shirt that flatters him, both the color and the fit, and his beard and mustache are neatly trimmed. Julio lets his gaze wander as he takes a drink. "Here I thought maybe you were done being angry."

"It's on your book blurb," Julio replies. "Hire a better publicist."

Tenoch grimaces. "Some of the stuff they wanted me to reveal for that damn cover was nuts. My editor made up some stuff and I rolled with it. I _do_ live in Mexico City."

"I thought maybe your tastes had matured," Julio says, deadpan.

"They have," Tenoch says, and leans closer. A lock of his hair falls into his face and Julio can't look away.

He wishes he could feel more unaffected, but the truth is that being the sole focus of Tenoch's attention still sends shivers tingling down Julio's spine. Tenoch's the snake, and he's the willing mouse.

"Hey, no big deal," Tenoch says, lowly. He shrugs one shoulder. "We can share."

"Gross," Julio mimics Tenoch's earlier word, but the rejoinder instantly falls flat. Great, already he's fucked it up. Tenoch looks genuinely stricken. Julio bites his lip against making a nervous joke, and puts the cup down on the bench between them. "Ignore me. Of course we'll share."

Conversation flows faster the longer they sit there, and Julio learns some about Tenoch's life over the last couple of decades. 

Tenoch says, "I'm still in economics," and they share a laugh.

"Does your dad feel the same way," Julio says, half-joking.

Tenoch shrugs. "He's dead."

"Shit, sorry," Julio says. "I didn't know."

"I know," Tenoch says. "Don't be sorry. I'm not."

He states it so sincerely that Julio feels simultaneously caught out and also relieved. Tenoch's father had been a real son of a bitch. Eager to change the subject, he says, "So everything worked according to your grand plan, yeah? Real slick move, hiding a loose scrap of paper in a book and what, figuring I'd stumble on it eventually..."

"Well, yeah," Tenoch answers, reaching for the horchata and flashing a grin. "You found it, we're here. If I'm being honest, I'd hoped it wouldn't take you so long to call."

Julio grins back. He feels charmed, not hypnotized. Maybe he's not the mouse. "Hey, hang on. I'm not the one who ignored me first!"

"Ignored you?" Tenoch sucks hard on the straw. "Mmm, good." 

"On Twitter," Julio says, staring helplessly. "I messaged you, about a week after the lecture."

"You had the book before you sent the message, though," Tenoch says, smugly. "So you were ignored second."

Julio makes a face. "Fine. But I did reach out."

"True," Tenoch concedes. He hands the cup back to Julio. "I don't do social media. My assistant handles all of that, like, for gigs or consulting."

"I got screened out," Julio says, mournfully.

"My intentions are finally clear," Tenoch says, stretching back in his seat. "Hey, you wanna have dinner with me tonight?"

"Okay," Julio says.

"I really -- I've really missed you," Tenoch says to his feet, as they stand and gather up their trash.

Julio feels bold enough to reply. "This beautiful face? Obviously."

Tenoch doesn't play along, and Julio realizes that Tenoch wasn't joking. He flushes warm all over, and immediately stumbles on the edge of the pavement. 

"Graceful," Tenoch comments, and Julio flips him the bird over one shoulder.

*

Over tacos al pastor, shots of mezcal, and beer, Julio also learns about the fate of Tenoch's mother, who resides permanently on a cruise ship, something which Julio hadn't known existed as a possibility until that very minute. "Wow."

Tenoch rolls his eyes. "She peaced out when she realized I wouldn't be a reliable source of grandchildren."

"Oh," Julio says. A weird little thrill goes through him. "Sorry, I thought --"

Tenoch's brow creases. "I'm divorced."

"That sucks," Julio says. "I mean. Does it?"

"It wasn't a good match," Tenoch confirms.

Julio nods. "No kids for me, either. Never been married. Came close once, but, I ended up wanting -- something different, I guess."

"Same with me," Tenoch says, sipping at his mezcal.

Julio sanitizes Boinas's record a little in the retelling, and says he'll relay Tenoch's good wishes to his mother, though he won't. His mom has little goodwill left for anyone wealthy enough to pay for drivers and valets. She'll remember Tenoch's family from the past government, and no one willingly raises that topic with her anymore.

"And you!" Tenoch says. "You're a bonafide journalist. Investigating the wrongs and writing the rights."

Julio snorts, chasing sauce around the plate with the last bite of tortilla. "Yeah, kinda."

"Kinda?" Tenoch frowns. He puts down his glass to point at Julio. "You're a great writer. I've been reading your stuff for years." 

Julio swallows wrong, coughs. "Sorry, what?"

"I read your articles," Tenoch repeats. "You were always good with words, man."

Julio's brain spins around and he blurts out, "But you're a teacher."

"But I'm a -- what?" Tenoch bursts into laughter. "I take it back, you're shit with words."

Julio's struck again by how freely Tenoch gives his joy; in the past, he'd parcelled it out, careful not to show much emotion at all.

"Do you ever see Saba, or Daniel?" Tenoch asks. "I kept up with Pecas a little, you know, we're eighth cousins or whatever. She's good. Married a guy from El Salvador." 

A worker interrupts them to clean the table of plates and empty bottles. Julio considers ordering another round, but a glance at his watch changes his mind. "Hey, not to be an aguafiestas, but…" 

Julio expects Tenoch to urge him to stay, to forget his responsibilities and party the night away. After Prepa they had that kind of freedom all summer long.

Instead, Tenoch nods. "Can I walk you home?"

"Yes," Julio says. 

Throughout dinner, he'd noticed Tenoch watching him appreciatively a few times. Quick glances at Julio's mouth, his hands. A couple longer, weightier looks when Julio told a story about the security measures he'd endured in order to interview a high-ranking governor of another province. This is a different Tenoch, Julio has decided. His Tenoch, the base model, who'd always been a bright light, affectionate and fun, but now with years of academics and travel layered on, stimulating an openness and generosity of spirit that Julio finds extra attractive. 

Maybe they needed this twenty-year break from one another. 

More likely, the universe is laughing at them.

*

"Well. This is it," Julio says, pointing to a courtyard. Inside, paving stones lined with terracotta jugs all meet in the middle at a fountain, and some kind of green leafy plant climbs over everything, including the entryway.

They've been walking in silence for the past while, staying close enough to bump shoulders. When they have to move over, they go together, magnets in their hips.

Suddenly speechlessly formal, they start to shake hands, and then Tenoch pulls Julio into a tight hug.

Julio's about to use his key when, from behind him, Tenoch asks, "A kiss?"

It's always been easy to say yes to Tenoch. Julio moves as Tenoch steps forward, kissing Julio's cheek softly. Julio returns the kiss to Tenoch's cheek as lightly. He can feel it when Tenoch smiles, and then Tenoch kisses Julio's other cheek. They go back and forth again, and then again, trading slow, deliberately soft kisses until Julio's knees feel weak.

"Another?"

Julio meets the sparkle of good humor in Tenoch's gaze with his own, then raises the stakes. "Think you can handle it, old man?"

Tenoch laughs, but the intensity and purpose in his expression doesn't waver. "Can I walk you to your door?"

"All right," Julio agrees, unlocking the main gate. "Why not."

Tenoch arches an eyebrow. "Maybe I'm here to rob you."

"Hmmm," Julio says, closing the gate behind them. "I doubt that."

They're whispering now, Tenoch following close behind Julio as they move down the corridor and stop next to Julio's front door. He'd forgotten to turn on the exterior light before he'd left, so they're standing in the shadows.

"No?" Tenoch asks directly into Julio's ear, his breath warming Julio's neck.

Julio takes off his glasses. Taking a deep breath, he angles his head back far enough to catch Tenoch's heated stare. "What's mine is yours."

Tenoch makes a growly noise and pushes up against Julio, hard. "God, you're so, you're making me crazy."

Julio turns around slowly, giving Tenoch every chance and every out, but Tenoch is right there, crowding closer, his hands running up Julio's arms and cupping Julio's face, thumbs stroking over Julio's cheekbones.

"Everything about you turns me on," Tenoch says. "I couldn't believe it was you."

"You would have laughed your arse off if you'd seen my face," Julio replies. He's breathing hard, Tenoch's words reverberating inside. "I forgot to do my job; I forgot to record a single thing."

Tenoch guides him backwards until Julio hits the wall. "That's so hot, god, how are you so fucking _gorgeous_ \--"

Julio clutches and pulls at Tenoch's shirt, working his hands underneath and sliding them up Tenoch's back. The movement presses them closer, with Tenoch's leg braced between Julio's thighs. Tenoch lays a long line of biting kisses down Julio's jawline, and when he reaches Julio's open mouth, it's a struggle not to react as Tenoch's mouth ghosts over Julio's, gently, so gently.

Truthfully, Julio's never forgotten how desperate for each other they'd been, all those years ago, with Tenoch showing a tenderness that Julio had never seen from him before. It had felt right to fall into each other then, and it's even better now: Julio digs his fingers into the hard muscle of Tenoch's back, using him as leverage to shove up and bite at Tenoch's jaw and chin.

"Corazón," Tenoch whispers, sounding wrecked.

Finally, _finally_ , they find the right angle, and Tenoch's arms wind their way around Julio, wrapping him up in an embrace. The kiss is explosive; Julio's head fills up with white noise and he thinks he yanks on Tenoch's hair too hard, but who can say when fireworks keep going off all around them.

Tenoch responds by sucking on Julio's tongue, his clever fingers at work on Julio's first few buttons. Julio breaks away gasping as Tenoch's hips move hesitantly against his, and then he's moving too, pushing up against Tenoch's strong body, trying to keep kissing even though they're both breathless.

A dog barks nearby, loud and shrill. Julio hears a door close, and then his neighbor's shuffling gait going down the corridor. Tenoch releases Julio, meeting his eyes and stepping back reluctantly. Julio licks his lips, unsure what to say.

"I think I have to leave," Tenoch says. He doesn't move.

Heart dropping into his stomach, Julio scrubs one hand down over his face. "Okay, sure, I get it."

"No, no no," Tenoch says, narrowing his eyes. "I want to take you out again, tomorrow."

"Oh," Julio says.

"Oh," Tenoch echoes. "I'm not -- what we --"

The emotion on Tenoch's expressive face fills in the rest of the words. Julio nods, pretending to mull it over. "Okay," he says, unable to tease Tenoch too much.

"Yes?" Tenoch grins.

Julio kisses him, again. "Yes, I said yes, you're like an old woman." Even in the dim light, Julio can see Tenoch's eyebrows lifting. "Well -- not a woman, precisely."

  


_And another time, after that._

"-- more cheese, come on," Tenoch whines, motioning for Julio to keep going with the grater. "The chip is just the vessel."

They've been lounging barefoot around in Julio's apartment all day, streaming re-runs of older fútbol matches and smoking spliffs rolled from some dank pot that Tenoch procured. It's reminiscent of toking at Tenoch's house after school, horseplay on the sofa, junk food, and FIFA match-ups, the pair of them sitting squished together on the long couch. Only this time, they're shirtless and making out in between plays.

Tenoch's rifling through the fridge. "Do you have olives? An olive's a solid choice here, olives are particularly --"

  


_And another time._

Dazedly, Julio takes Tenoch's hand. They wander from the cinema out into the chilly air. It takes a few moments for Julio's eyes to adjust to the glare of the streetlights.

"That was fucking _awesome_!" Tenoch lets out a whoop, then turns to Julio and kisses him sweetly, right there in front of everyone. "Thank you for coming with me," Tenoch says, as if Julio hadn't been one hundred percent down for a back-to-back-to-back _Star Wars_ marathon.

  


_Another._

"You're sure you want to do this," Tenoch says, flipping through his notecards. He looks at Julio expectantly.

Julio sprawls out on the couch, wiggling around to get really comfortable. "Yeah, go, I'm ready."

Tenoch clears his throat. "Thank you for coming to today's signing. I appreciate it. Let's start with a passage from chapter three, where I discuss the differences between a variety of world market economies, and how that relates to --"

  


_And many more times, after that._


End file.
